Yoshioka arc
The Hōzōin arc is the seventh of the story arcs in Vagabond, and it shows the events corresponding to Musashi Miyamoto's large conflicts against the Yoshioka when he is 22 years old and returns to Kyōto. Summary Return to Musashi's story where it was left, Musashi's return to Kyōto, the events preluding his fight against Seijūrō Yoshioka, their fight, its aftermath with the Yoshioka's various deliberations, Musashi's fight against Denshichirō Yoshioka, its aftermath with the Yoshioka's definitive plan, Musashi's solo battle against 70 Yoshioka men, its outcome. Duration Chapters: 180—242 Volumes: 21—27 First fight The story returns to Musashi Miyamoto, picking up where it left. Now it's the new year's eve and he has returned to the capital, Kyōto. Winter. Denshichirō Yoshioka formally challenges Musashi for a rematch, Musashi accepts. The city anxiously awaits the duel, due in 9 days' time. Many of the story's major characters are in Kyōto: Kojirō, Matahachi, Takuan, Otsū, Jōtarō and Osugi. Seijūrō Yoshioka knows his brother Denshichirō doesn't stand a chance against Musashi, so he sets to secretly assassinate Musashi before the duel. 1605 arrives while Musashi is resting in the Rendaiji temple's field. Seijūrō ambushes, but Musashi dodges, and the fight starts. Over the last year, Musashi has advanced so much that now his strikes and blocks are lightning-fast, and can clearly see Seijūrō's attacks. One of these, intended for his eyes, cuts instead his forehead, leaving Musashi with one more scar. Seijūrō starts to get frustrated that he can't finish Musashi. Right then, Musashi enters a no mind state, and splits Seijūrō's body in two. In the fight's aftermath, a wounded Musashi scurries to the Yoshioka dojo and leaves a letter reporting the situation. Then he goes to a river to cleanse, and finds famed sword polisher Kōetsu Hon'ami. Tired, Musashi asks him for housing, and Kōetsu accepts. He is also housing Kojirō, who passes his days playing with Kōetsu's mother Myōshū. Interlude and deliberations News of Seijūrō's death storm the city. The Yoshioka communicate he died of sickness, but rumors grow. The Yoshioka are caught in a difficult situation: the duel is in a few days and Denshichirō's skills worsen everyday. They realize why Seijūrō did that. But if they try another ambush on Musashi, everyone would know the truth. They decide, for the moment, to send teams to find Musashi's whereabouts. Musashi recovers and goes to check out the duel's site, the Rengeōin temple. Later, he tensely meets his rival, when Tōji Gion appears. Tōji, now crazy and unkempt, attacks Musashi against Denshichirō's orders. Musashi kills Tōji, then leaves. The Yoshioka track him to Kōetsu's place: an ambush is discarded. That night, Ryōhei Ueda plans that Kojirō fight in Denshichirō's place so that the Yoshioka are not compromised. Denshichirō refuses this plan, but it is accepted by the Ten Swords, Yoshioka's highest students, and teams are sent to find Kojirō's whereabouts. Matahachi, who is living as a scammer and using Kojirō's name, is caught by the Yoshioka and taken to the outskirts. Right then, Kojirō appears. Matahachi realizes he is the Kojirō who was awarded the swordsman certificate he carries. The Yoshioka start a fight and Kojirō kills 2 of them, but Matahachi manages to stop him and persuade him to go to the Yoshioka dojo. He plans to pose as Kojirō's interpreter in his path to stardom. The Yoshioka resent Kojirō's kills and Matahachi's burning of their dojo the year before, but they accept them with honors. That night, Matahachi has a chance to give Kojirō his certificate, but he skips it. Later, he finds the truth about the Yoshioka's plan, which is secret to the public. Fearing he and Kojirō will be killed after a behind closed doors duel, Matahachi escapes, but is soon caught and jailed. Kojirō also leaves, having lost interest after Ueda refused a challenge, and returns to Kōetsu's place. There, Musashi and Kojirō meet and play like it was a fight, using light sticks and a snowman. They start to be friends. Without Kojirō, now the only course of action is that Denshichirō fight. Luckily, Denshichirō improves. He has an argument with Ueda over his plan, and expels him. The night before the duel, Kōetsu polishes Musashi's sword. It is revealed he also polished Kojirō's. Second fight The day of the duel comes. Under steady snowing, a big crowd gathers in the Rengeōin temple, including many major characters. Musashi goes to the fight, but in the way there Ueda threatens him, he continues nonetheless. Musashi arrives, late, to the temple, and the duel starts. There isn't contest: unarmed, Musashi realizes 8 ways to draw his sword and kill Denshichirō. He offers Denshichirō to call off the duel, in vain. After having enough of Denshichirō's passionate charges, which he easily dodges and blocks, Musashi finally attacks: he amputates Denshichirō's left arm, then takes his opponent's short sword and uses it against his owner, ripping his belly. Denshichirō dies. Musashi leaves. The crowd disperses. Interlude and conspiracy Upon Denshichirō's death, Ueda becomes the Yoshioka head, following orders left by Denshichirō in a letter. The Yoshioka's reputation is shattered now that all say their 2 brothers were killed by Musashi, and they plan revenge. Ueda orders to deny Musashi exit from Kyōto, find him and give him a letter requesting a definitive duel at the black pine in the Ichijōji temple's field. Musashi receives the letter and ponders what to do. Matahachi, who has escaped from captivity, reunites with him. But after a peaceful chat, a drunk and susceptible Matahachi ruins all and insults Otsū, who Musashi still loves. Musashi punches him and parts ways. The Ten Swords go to check out the duel's site. Then, Ueda reveals the plan: they will attack Musashi with the 70 Yoshioka ganging up on him. And, as the place is always empty, nobody will see the execution and they could invent that a single Yoshioka exacted revenge on Musashi, thus restoring their reputation. Unbeknownst to them, Musashi has overheard all from the pine's heights. But after punching Matahachi he has reverted to his hotblooded self: he falls from the tree to fight them right there. Ueda manages to make a light wound upon him. Takuan passes by and stops them. Everyone leaves. But the Yoshioka decide not to change their plan. While having dinner in the Konpuku temple, Takuan notes Musashi for having lost composure, but Musashi responds he will leave Kyōto by another trail. He does so, but at the last second, he changes his mind and runs back to fight. Third fight Before the battle, Musashi plans his strategy. It won't be a 1 vs 70 fight, but a 1 vs 1 fight done 70 times. But he will sense everything instead of fixing his mind in only one target. And will follow the flow and use any element. True to his habitual tricks, Musashi starts the fight half an hour earlier when his enemies aren't on guard, comes from the mountain when his enemies think he will come from the main road leading to Ichijōji's pine, and eliminates early the group's strongest fighter (Ueda) so the rest loses composure. Using lightning-fast moves, Musashi kills his enemies in just one attack. He uses enemy swords for much of the fight: by the time he uses one of his own swords, he has already killed 49 enemies. Seeing that the battle is going wrong, a different plan is devised by Yoichibe Nampo, one of the Ten Swords: cluster, throw mud into Musashi's eyes and attack him from all directions at the same time. After waiting for Musashi to fatigue, they execute the plan. The result: Yoichibe manages to pin down Musashi and orders his men to pierce through both, but they hesitate for too long and Musashi breaks Yoichibe's neck and gets up, returning to the fight. Later, Hikozo Tagaya, one of the Ten Swords, leaves another scar on Musashi's forehead before dying. Musashi continues until he kills the last in the field, but Ueda, who is revealed to have been wounded instead of killed, plans a last attempt along with Kurando, one of the Ten Swords. Having finished, Musashi sets to leave the battlefield, but first he wants to retrieve his sword that was polished by Kōetsu (he doesn't care about his short sword). He finds the sword, but Kurando and Ueda ambush him, and his right leg gets seriously cut. He kills them, picks up his sword and finally leaves. After the battle, Musashi is approached by Akemi, who confesses she always wanted him, then dashes to stab him with a dagger, in vain. Akemi says she was Seijūrō's woman, then jumps off a waterfall, committing suicide. That night, Musashi lies wounded in the snowy loneliness in the mountains. Category:Story Arcs